VoiceTra is an innovative speech translation application designed to facilitate communication across different languages, making it an essential tool for travelers and those welcoming visitors to Japan. This free-to-download app supports an impressive array of 31 languages and boasts an intuitive interface that allows users to verify the accuracy of translation results.
Key Features:
VoiceTra leverages cutting-edge speech recognition, translation, and speech synthesis technologies, developed by the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT). It converts your spoken phrases into a variety of languages and outputs them through synthesized voice, ensuring seamless communication. The app also offers the flexibility to instantly switch translation directions, enabling two people speaking different languages to converse effectively using just one device. For languages without speech input support, text input is available, broadening its utility.
VoiceTra is particularly tailored for travel-related dialogues and is ideal for various scenarios such as:
- Transportation: Including buses, trains, rental cars, taxis, and airports.
- Shopping: Useful in restaurants, stores, and during transactions.
- Hotels: Assists with check-ins, check-outs, and cancellations.
- Sightseeing: Enhances experiences during overseas travel and helps in serving and supporting foreign customers.
Moreover, VoiceTra has been recognized for its utility in disaster prevention and related scenarios, showcasing its versatility beyond mere travel assistance. While it can serve as a dictionary for individual word lookups, the app is most effective when entire sentences are inputted, as it considers the context to deliver accurate translations.
Supported Languages:
The app supports a wide range of languages including Japanese, English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Korean, Thai, French, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Spanish, Myanmar, Arabic, Italian, Ukrainian, Urdu, Dutch, Khmer, Sinhala, Danish, German, Turkish, Nepali, Hungarian, Hindi, Filipino, Polish, Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese, Malay, Mongolian, Lao, and Russian.
Restrictions and Considerations:
Using VoiceTra requires an internet connection, and the speed of translation may vary depending on network conditions. Text input is limited to languages supported by the OS keyboard, and proper font installation is necessary for correct character display. Please be aware that the app might be unavailable if the server is down, and users are responsible for any incurred communication fees, including potentially high international data roaming charges.
Developed initially for research purposes, VoiceTra targets individuals for testing during travel and utilizes research-oriented servers. Data collected on these servers is used to enhance speech translation technologies. While the app can be tested for business use, for ongoing use, consider opting for private services that have licensed our technology.
For more detailed information, please refer to our "Terms of Use" at https://voicetra.nict.go.jp/en/attention.html.
What's New in Version 9.0.4:
- Last updated on Aug 20, 2024
- Now supports Android 14
